


Dancing Day

by lirin



Category: Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20200351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: The end is in sight.





	Dancing Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [primeideal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/primeideal/gifts).

Tomorrow.

Colin can't sleep, because the thought keeps pounding through his head: tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!

Badri warned him yesterday that it could all still go wrong, that there's a 45% chance that the net won't even open, and Verity reminded him how many days there were that could be considered "at the end of April" (as if he hasn't already calculated that for himself, a thousand times), and Kivrin told him that she could go instead, if he didn't want to risk getting stuck in World War II and running into his deadline. He knows she would do her best, but she's never been to the 1940s, and besides, he can't bring himself to let someone else go in his place. He's never liked the idea of sitting in the laboratory, biting his nails while someone he cared about went into danger to look for someone they'd lost. It was bad enough when he was a kid, when he'd only just gained Mr. Dunworthy and already risked losing him again, on a journey to save Kivrin, whom Colin hadn't even met back then. But now—

He wonders if Polly looks anything like he remembers her. It's been so long, the memories are starting to grow cloudy, though he can still remember the flash of her beautiful eyes. He wonders if  _ he  _ looks anything like Polly remembers him. Probably not; he's a few heads taller than he was, and a bit the worse for wear.

He's spent so many years in libraries and archives and lecture halls and offices, trying to find them. That's been his life, for what seems as long as he can remember. And now, one way or another, it will all be over. If the net opens, whether he finds them or not, he'll be blocked forever from April 1941.

But Binnie had said that he succeeded. He'll just have to trust in that, tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

And at this rate, tomorrow is going to be the next time he gets any decent sleep. Or possibly not until the day after that.

Tomorrow, he'll see Polly and Mr. Dunworthy again.

Tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt for this ficlet was [John Gardner's adaptation of "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VTkJSIXXzU).


End file.
